List of presidents of Guinea-Bissau

President of the
Republic of Guinea-Bissau
President of the; Republic of Guinea-Bissau
	Emblem of Guinea-Bissau
	Incumbent; Umaro Sissoco Embaló; since 27 February 2020
Residence	Presidential Palace, Bissau
Term length	5 years
Inaugural holder	Luís Cabral
Formation	24 September 1973
Salary	3,000,000 CFA francs annually

This article lists the presidents of Guinea-Bissau, since the establishment of the office of President in 1973.

The politics of Guinea-Bissau take place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, with a multi-party system, wherein the President is head of state and the Prime Minister is head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National People's Assembly.

Since 1994, the Bissau-Guinean party system has been dominated by the socialist African Independence Party of Guinea and Cape Verde and the Party for Social Renewal. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Despite the democratic, constitutional framework, the military has exercised substantial power, and has interfered repeatedly in civilian leadership since multi-party elections were instituted in 1994. In the past 16 years, Guinea-Bissau has experienced two coups, a civil war, an attempted coup, and a presidential assassination by the military. Since the country's independence in 1974, only one president successfully completed his five-year term .

Constitution of Guinea-Bissau

The Constitution of Guinea-Bissau is the basic law governing Guinea-Bissau. It was adopted in 1984, came into force on 6 May 1984, and revised in 1991, 1993 and 1996.

European rule

Struggle for independence

Amílcar Cabral was assassinated in Conakry in 1973, and party leadership fell to Aristides Pereira, who later became the first president of the Republic of Cape Verde. The PAIGC National Assembly met at Boe in the southeastern region and declared the independence of Guinea-Bissau on 24 September 1973 and was recognized by a 93–7 UN General Assembly vote in November.

Independence from Portugal

Following Portugal's April 1974 Carnation Revolution, it granted independence to Guinea-Bissau on 10 September 1974. Luís Cabral, Amílcar Cabral's half-brother, became President. In late 1980, the government was overthrown in a coup led by Prime Minister and former armed forces commander João Bernardo Vieira.

The United States recognised Guinea Bissau's independence on 10 September 1974.

Democracy

In 1994, 20 years after independence from Portugal, the country's first multiparty legislative and presidential elections were held. An army uprising that triggered the Guinea-Bissau Civil War in 1998, created hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. The president was ousted by a military junta on 7 May 1999. An interim government turned over power in February 2000 when opposition leader Kumba Ialá took office following two rounds of transparent presidential elections. Guinea-Bissau's transition back to democracy has been complicated by a crippled economy devastated by civil war and the military's predilection for governmental meddling.

Despite reports that there had been an influx of arms in the weeks leading up to the election and reports of some 'disturbances during campaigning' – including attacks on the presidential palace and the Interior Ministry by as-yet-unidentified gunmen – European monitors labelled the election as "calm and organized".

In January 2000, the second round of a general election took place. The presidential election resulted in a victory for opposition leader Kumba Ialá of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), who defeated Malam Bacai Sanhá of the ruling PAIGC. The PRS were also victorious in the National People's Assembly election, winning 38 of the 102 seats.

In September 2003, a military coup was conducted. The military arrested Ialá on the charge of being "unable to solve the problems".After being delayed several times, legislative elections were held in March 2004. A mutiny of military factions in October 2004 resulted in the death of the head of the armed forces and caused widespread unrest.

In June 2005, presidential elections were held for the first time since the coup that deposed Ialá. Ialá returned as the candidate for the PRS, claiming to be the legitimate president of the country, but the election was won by former president João Bernardo Vieira, deposed in the 1999 coup. Vieira beat Malam Bacai Sanhá in a run-off election. Sanhá initially refused to concede, claiming that tampering and electoral fraud occurred in two constituencies including the capital, Bissau.

Despite reports of arms entering the country prior to the election and some "disturbances during campaigning", including attacks on government offices by unidentified gunmen, foreign election monitors described the 2005 election overall as "calm and organized". Three years later, PAIGC won a strong parliamentary majority, with 67 of 100 seats, in the parliamentary election held in November 2008. In November 2008, President Vieira's official residence was attacked by members of the armed forces, killing a guard but leaving the president unharmed.

On 2 March 2009, however, Vieira was assassinated by what preliminary reports indicated to be a group of soldiers avenging the death of the head of joint chiefs of staff, General Batista Tagme Na Wai, who had been killed in an explosion the day before.Vieira's death did not trigger widespread violence, but there were signs of turmoil in the country, according to the advocacy group Swisspeace. Military leaders in the country pledged to respect the constitutional order of succession. National Assembly Speaker Raimundo Pereira was appointed as an interim president until a nationwide election on 28 June 2009.It was won by Malam Bacai Sanhá of the PAIGC, against Kumba Ialá as the presidential candidate of the PRS.

On 9 January 2012, President Sanhá died of complications from diabetes, and Pereira was again appointed as an interim president. On the evening of 12 April 2012, members of the country's military staged a coup d'état and arrested the interim president and a leading presidential candidate.Former vice chief of staff, General Mamadu Ture Kuruma, assumed control of the country in the transitional period and started negotiations with opposition parties.

José Mário Vaz was the President of Guinea-Bissau from 2014 until 2019 presidential elections. At the end of his term, Vaz became the first elected president to complete his five-year mandate. He lost the 2019 election, however, to Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who took office in February 2020. Embaló is the first president to be elected without the backing of the PAIGC.

Presidents of Guinea-Bissau (1973–present)

No	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of Office		Political Party	Election
1	Luís Cabral (1931–2009)	24 September 1973	14 November 1980^[2]	PAIGC	1973 1976–77
2	Aristides Pereira (1923–2011)	24 September 1973	14 November 1980	PAIGC
3	João Bernardo Vieira (1939–2009)	14 November 1980	14 May 1984	PAIGC / Military
4	Carmen Pereira (1937–2016)	14 May 1984	16 May 1984	PAIGC	1984
(3)	João Bernardo Vieira (1939–2009)	16 May 1984	7 May 1999^[3]	PAIGC	1989 1994
5	Ansumane Mané (c. 1940–2000)	7 May 1999	14 May 1999	Military
6	Malam Bacai Sanhá (1947–2012)	14 May 1999	17 February 2000	PAIGC
7	Kumba Ialá (1953–2014)	17 February 2000	14 September 2003	PRS	1999–2000
8	Veríssimo Correia Seabra (1947–2004)	14 September 2003	28 September 2003	Military
9	Henrique Rosa (1946–2013)	28 September 2003	1 October 2005	Independent
(3)	João Bernardo Vieira (1939–2009)	1 October 2005	2 March 2009^[X]	Independent	2005
10	Raimundo Pereira (1955–)	3 March 2009	8 September 2009	PAIGC
(6)	Malam Bacai Sanhá (1947–2012)	8 September 2009	9 January 2012^[†]	PAIGC	2009
11	Antonio Indjai (1947–)	1 April 2010	1 April 2010	Military
(6)	Malam Bacai Sanhá (1947–2012)	1 April 2010	9 January 2012	PAIGC
(10)	Raimundo Pereira (1955–)	9 January 2012	12 April 2012	PAIGC
12	Carlos Gomes Júnior (1949–)	11 April 2012	12 April 2012	PAIGC	2012
(7)	Kumba Ialá (1953–2014)	12 April 2012	12 April 2012	PRS	2012
13	Mamadu Ture Kuruma (1947–)	12 April 2012	11 May 2012	Military
14	Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo (1958–2020)	11 May 2012	23 June 2014	Independent
15	José Mário Vaz (1957–)	23 June 2014	23 June 2019	PAIGC	2014
16	Cipriano Cassamá (1959–)	23 June 2019	27 June 2019	Independent
(15)	José Mário Vaz (1957–)	27 June 2019	27 February 2020	Independent
(16)	Cipriano Cassamá (1959-)	27 February 2020	1 March 2020	Independent
17	Umaro Sissoco Embaló (1972-)	27 February 2020	1 March 2020	Madem G15	2019
17	Umaro Sissoco Embaló (1972-)	1 March 2020	1 June 2021	Madem G15	2019
18	Nuno Gomes Nabiam (1966—)	1 June 2021	15 June 2021	Independent
(17)	Umaro Sissoco Embaló (1972-)	15 June 2021	Incumbent	Madem G15